Location based apps are all over Android and iPhone. From Google Maps to geo-tagging of photographs to location aware search, all of it gives wonderful results with GPS.

Though, one thing that has not caught up with this is the speed of GPS satellites serving data. This scenario is going to change with more satellites being launched for this sole purpose. GPS has been really slow on phones until now. Also, current GPS satellites are accurate only to a certain limit. Though, with the new satellites, the figures can get significantly less.

Boeing is manufacturing 12 new Block IIF satellites which have twice the accuracy of current satellites. These will be stationed in the next ten years. This accuracy of GPS data can come in handy in checking population concentration, track usage of apps and in other activities like search and rescue.

Augmented reality which barely works currently will also get more realistic with this improvement. Once again, all this comes at the cost of privacy as apps may collect various types of location based user data. The improvement of GPS is a boon though, and is a welcome move as it will open up a new dimension of mobile computing and application development.

Chinmoy Kanjilal is a FOSS enthusiast and evangelist. He is passionate about Android. Security exploits turn him on and he loves to tinker with computer networks. He rants occasionally at Techarraz.com. You can connect with him on Twitter @ckandroid.